but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket. When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
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Acts 9:25-27 sits inside this longer paragraph.
But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ. When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket. When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. He was with them entering into Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. When the brothers knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus. So the assemblies throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Parallel Translations
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but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.
When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
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Then the disciples toke him by night and put him thorow the wall and let him doune in a basket.
And when Saul was come to Ierusalem he assayde to cople him silfe with the discyples and they were all afrayde of hym and beleued not that he was a disciple.
But Bernabas toke hym and brought hym to the apostles and declared to the how he had sene the Lorde in the waye and had spoke wyth hym: and how he had done boldely at damasco in the name of Iesu.
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Then the disciples tooke him by night, and put him through the wall, and let him downe by a rope in a basket.
And when Saul was come to Hierusalem, he assayed to ioyne himselfe with the disciples: but they were all afrayd of him, and beleeued not that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas tooke him, and brought him to the Apostles, and declared to them, howe hee had seene the Lord in the way, and that hee had spoken vnto him, and how he had spoken boldly at Damascus in the Name of Iesus.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (30)
- Acts 26:20 (v26) but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should…
- Acts 4:36 (v27) Joses, who by the apostles was also called Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of Encouragement), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race,
- Joshua 2:15 (v25) Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.
- 2 Corinthians 11:33 (v25) I was let down in a basket through a window by the wall, and escaped his hands.
- Galatians 1:17-19 (v26) nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia. Then I returned to Damascus. Then after…
Show all 30 cross-references
- 1 Samuel 19:11-12 (v25) Saul sent messengers to David’s house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t…
- Acts 4:29 (v27) Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness,
- Acts 4:13 (v27) Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They…
- Acts 4:23 (v26) Being let go, they came to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
- Acts 9:19 (v26) He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
- Acts 22:17-20 (v26) “When I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance, and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of…
- Ephesians 6:19-20 (v27) on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News, for which I…
- Matthew 10:17-19 (v26) But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you. Yes, and you will be brought…
- Acts 9:3-6 (v27) As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him. He fell on the earth, and heard a voice…
- Acts 9:20-22 (v27) Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that he is the Son of God. All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he…
- Acts 11:22 (v27) The report concerning them came to the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem. They sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch,
- Acts 11:25 (v27) Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul.
- Acts 12:25 (v27) Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their service, also taking with them John who was called Mark.
- Acts 13:2 (v27) As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
- Acts 15:2 (v27) Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them,…
- Acts 15:25-26 (v27) it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have…
- Acts 15:35-39 (v27) But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. After some days Paul said to…
- 1 Corinthians 9:6 (v27) Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work?
- 1 Corinthians 15:8 (v27) and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
- Galatians 1:18-19 (v27) Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days. But of the other apostles I saw no one…
- Galatians 2:4 (v26) This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they…
- Galatians 2:9 (v27) and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas…
- Matthew 24:10 (v26) Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.
- Acts 9:17 (v27) Ananias departed and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by…
- Galatians 2:13 (v27) And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv25–27 25. The disciples having taken him by night. There…
25. The disciples having taken him by night. There is a question moved here, whether it were lawful for the disciples to save Paul thus or no? and also, whether it were lawful for Paul to escape danger by this means or no? For the laws say that the walls of cities are holy, [sacred,] and that the gates are holy. Therefore, he ought rather to have suffered death, than to have suffered a public order to be broken for his sake. I answer, that we must consider why it is decreed by the laws that the walls should not be violated; to wit, that the cities may not be laid open to murders and robberies, and that the cities may be free from treason. That reason ceaseth when the question is concerning the delivery of an innocent man. Therefore, it was no less lawful for the faithful to be let down in a basket, than it shall be lawful for any private person to leap over a wall, that he may avoid the sudden invasion of the enemy. Cicero doth handle this latter member, and he setteth down very well, that although the law forbid a stranger to come near the wall, yet doth not he offend who shall go up upon the wall to save the city, because the laws must always be inclined to equity. Therefore Paul is not to be blamed, because he escaped by stealth, seeing that he doth that without raising any tumult amongst the people. Nevertheless, we see how the Lord useth to humble those that be his, seeing that Paul is enforced to steal his life from the watchmen of the city if he will save himself. Therefore, he reckoneth this example amongst his infirmities. He was acquainted betime with the cross with this first exercise.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv25–26 We are not forbidden to avoid and eschew the…
We are not forbidden to avoid and eschew the dangers and conspiracies that the enemies of God lay for us, so that we swerve not from our vocation.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv25–27 25 Then the disciples took him by night, and…
25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Ver. 25. Let him down, &c.] It is not unlawful then to fly in some cases. Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kinds of flight, in time of persecution; God hath not set us as standing marks, or butts, to be shot at.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv25–27 As Rahab did the spies, Jos 2:15, and Michal…
As Rahab did the spies, Jos 2:15, and Michal did David, 1Sa 19:12.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v26 Here we have an account of the second place…
Here we have an account of the second place which Paul exercised his ministry in; namely, Jerusalem.
Having escaped with his life at Damascus, he comes to Jerusalem and attempts to join himself to the disciples there, who were all afraid of him, knowing how bloody a persecutor he had been. The conversion of a persecutor is so rare and seldom heard of, that it puts the largest charity hard to it, to believe the verity and reality of such a person’s conversion unto God.
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The disciples, who had formerly felt the effects of Saul’s persecuting rage and fury, might justly be afraid of taking him into intimate fellowship and communion with the Spirit of God to present Saul to the church, and free their minds of all fears and jealousies which they had entertained concerning him; and this he doth by a threefold argument:
1. Because he had seen Jesus Christ in the way, as he went to persecute the saints at Damascus.
2. Because the Lord had spoken to him with a strong hand, and wrought a mighty change in him, and upon him; the persecutor being now become a great professor.
3. Because he was not only become a professor, but a preacher of that gospel he had persecuted, and this boldly and publicly, both at Damascus and in Arabia; proving undeniably that Jesus was the Christ and the true Messiah.
This testimony of Barnabas was full and satisfactory, both to the church at Jerusalem, and also to Peter, James, and John, who gave Paul the right hand of fellowship, and he went with him to the work.
Observe, lastly, how the enemies of the gospel conspire against Paul’s life here at Jerusalem, as they did before a Damascus; for preaching Christ, and disputing with the Grecians in defence of the gospel of Christ, they lay siege for his life.
Learn thence, That always opposition, and often persecution, is the evil ghost that haunts the preachers and preaching of the gospel wherever it goes. To preach the word convincingly, brings the ill-will of an evil world infallibly upon the head of the preacher.
But why did these men rather seek to kill Paul than Peter, James, or Barnabas?
Answer, Because he was formerly one of their own company, of their own college; a persecutor like themselves, and a persecutor with themsleves. This enraged them; they looked not upon him as an apostle, but as an apostate; one that had revolted from them,. a renegado, and as such they meditate his destruction night and day; insomuch, that it is probable, that never were so many sufferings heaped upon the head of any minster of the gospel throughout the world, as upon St. Paul, (see them reckoned up, 2Co 11:23 &c.) partly through the hatred of the Jews, and partly through the fury of the blind Gentiles; yet the Lord delivered him out of all. Till his work was done, and his race run, and he had finished the course of his ministry, neither the malice of men, nor the rage of devils, could take him off.
Blessed be God, our times are in his hands, not in our enemies, nor yet in our own.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv25–27 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem,.... After he…
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem,.... After he had escaped out of Damascus, in the manner before related, and which was three years after his conversion:
he assayed to join himself to the disciples; not to the private members of the church, or ordinary disciples, as distinct from the apostles, but to the whole society, as consisting of apostles and private Christians; for his chief view in going to Jerusalem was to see Peter; and the Ethiopic version reads, "to the apostles": the sense is, that he tried either to get into a free and familiar conversation with them, or to become one of their body, and a member of the church. He did not return to the high priest from whom he had received letters to Damascus, to give him an account of the execution of his commission, or what use he had made of the letters he gave him, but to the disciples, against whom he had breathed out threatenings and slaughter. Grace had made a strange alteration in him; those whom he hated, and was exceeding mad against, he now loves; they are the excellent ones in the earth in whom is all his delight; and whom he persecuted to strange cities, he now courts their company, and attempts to get among them; accounting it his greatest honour and happiness to be one of their society. It is the duty and interest of every gracious soul to join himself to a church of Christ, which consists of the disciples of Christ, as the church at Jerusalem did; of such who have learned Christ, and the way of life and salvation by him; who have believed in him, and have been taught to deny themselves for his sake, and to take up the cross and follow him, in the way of his ordinances and appointments; and to be "joined" to a church, is to become an open subject of Christ's kingdom, a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, one of the family of God, and a member of the body of Christ visibly. The phrase is expressive of that strict union there is between the saints in church relation, and of that close and intimate communion they have with each other, and shows that their incorporation together is by mutual consent and agreement. And a great privilege it is to be in such a relation, having the grace of God; for such have the best of company, and the most refreshing ordinances; are in the greatest safety, being under the watch and care of ministers and members, of angels, and of God himself; and shall never be disfranchised, or become foreigners and strangers; they may expect the presence of God, fresh supplies of his grace, and even life for evermore, and need fear no enemy. That which qualifies for church membership, is not natural descent from religious parents, nor a religious education, nor mere morality and civility, nor even a constant attendance on the word of God, but faith in Christ Jesus, and a profession of it; and according to the order of the Gospel it is necessary that baptism in water should go before it; and these qualifications the apostle had.
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But they were all afraid of him; knowing him to have been such an enemy to Christ, and so violent a persecutor of his church in times past:
and believed not that he was a disciple; or a true follower of Christ, but only pretended to be one, having some wicked design upon them in attempting to get among them: the reason of their not knowing anything of his conversion might be, because not only of the distance between Damascus and Jerusalem, and the continuance of the persecution in the latter place, which might occasion few comers to and fro of the Christians; but because the apostle, soon after his conversion, went to Arabia, where he had been all this while. Hence it appears, that the primitive churches were very careful in the admission of persons into fellowship with them; as they could not bear them in their communion who were evil, so they would not admit any among them but such as they looked upon to be the true disciples of Christ: and this is a method worthy of imitation; and such persons who, before a profession of religion, have been either very scandalous in their lives and conversations, or notorious enemies to Christ and his Gospel, ought to be thoroughly examined into, and full satisfaction obtained concerning them, ere they be received into the bosom of the church.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv26–27 And coming to Jerusalem - Three years after, Gal.…
And coming to Jerusalem - Three years after, Gal. i, 18. These three years St. Paul passes over, chap. xxii, 17, likewise.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv25–27 Verse 25. Let him down, by the wall] Favoured,…
Verse 25. Let him down, by the wall] Favoured, probably, by a house built against or upon the wall, through the window of which they could lower him in a basket; and by this means he made his escape. His escape was something similar to that of the spies at Jericho, Jos 2:15.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v26 Act 9:26-30. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem,…
Act 9:26-30. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, &c. — It must be observed here, that the history of Paul’s preaching at Damascus, going into Arabia, and visiting Jerusalem, is somewhat intricate, and interpreters differ much about it. But the series of it seems most probably to be as Dr. Whitby has stated it; namely, 1st, That, “after his conversion, he constantly preached in the synagogues of Damascus, that Jesus was the Son of God. 2d, That, going thence into Arabia, between two and three years after, he returned to Damascus, (Gal 1:17,) of which journey, however, Luke, not being with him, gives no account. 3d, That, at his return, being increased in wisdom and strength, he continued many days in Damascus, proving that Jesus was the Christ. 4th, That, after three years, escaping from Damascus, he came to Jerusalem, and was by Barnabas brought to the apostles Peter and James, and continued there fifteen days, Gal 1:18-19. 5th, There Christ appeared to him in a vision; commanding him to depart out of Jerusalem; and he accordingly went thence to Cesarea Philippi in Cœlo-Syria, and to Tarsus in Cilicia, Act 9:30; Gal 1:21.”
He assayed to join himself to the disciples — The despised, persecuted followers of Jesus, who were now in his eyes the excellent of the earth, and with whom he desired to be united in Christian fellowship. But they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he — Who had signalized himself so much by his rage against the church; was indeed a disciple — But suspected that his professing to be such was a mere artifice whereby he endeavoured to insinuate himself into their confidence, in order that he might thus have it in his power to detect and ruin a great number of them. It may seem strange that so remarkable an event as Saul’s conversion should be concealed so long from the Christians at Jerusalem; but it is to be considered, that there were not then such conveniences of correspondence between one place and another as we now have, and the war then subsisting between Herod Antipas and Aretas, (Jos. Antiq., Act 18:5,) might have interrupted that between Damascus and Jerusalem. Now might Paul be tempted to think himself in an ill case, when the Jews had abandoned and persecuted him on the one hand, and the Christians, on the other, would not receive and entertain him. But Barnabas took him — Probably having been informed of his conversion by Ananias, or some of the brethren of Damascus; and brought him to the apostles — Namely, to Peter and James, the rest, it seems, being then absent from Jerusalem, for Paul himself tells us, (Gal 1:19,) that, on his going to Jerusalem at this time, he saw no other of the apostles but these two. And declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way — To Damascus, and that he had spoken to him in a manner that had conquered all his former prejudices against the gospel; and how — In consequence of the change which was then made in his views, and in his heart; he had preached boldly at Damascus — Even at the apparent hazard of his life. So that he gave sufficient proof that he was a new creature, changed in principle and practice. And he was with them — With the Christians, who, on receiving such information from Barnabas, gladly admitted him into communion with them, and even into their most intimate friendship, so that he was coming in and going out among them — That is, frequently conversing and associating with them, for fifteen days, Gal 1:18. And he spake boldly in the name of Jesus — Even in Jerusalem, and that not only to such Jews as were natives of Judea; but disputed against the Grecians —
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Or Hellenists, namely, the foreign Jews, who used the Greek language, and came out of other parts to worship at Jerusalem. For Saul seems to have earnestly desired that they might carry along with them the knowledge of Christ into their own countries. But they went about to slay him — As they did Stephen, when they could not resist the Spirit by which he spake: so enraged were they at this unexpected opposition from one, on whose zeal for the Jewish religion, and against Christianity, they had had so great a dependance. Which when the brethren knew — Remembering how the putting Stephen to death, upon his disputing with the Hellenists, had been the beginning of a sore persecution, and being afraid of seeing such a tragedy acted over again, they hastened Paul out of the way; they brought him down to Cesarea — Namely, Cesarea Philippi, (for he went through the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and therefore went by land, Gal 1:21,) and from thence sent him forth — Doubtless with proper recommendations; to Tarsus — The capital of Cilicia, and his native place, where they hoped he might proceed in his work with more safety than at Jerusalem, and, perhaps, might meet with protection, and some support from his relations and friends. Yet it was also by direction from heaven, as he himself tells us, (Act 22:17-18,) that he left Jerusalem at this time, Christ ordering him to go out of it quickly, because he must be sent to the Gentiles. Observe, reader, those by whom God has work to do, shall be protected from all the designs of their enemies against them till it be done; for Christ’s witnesses cannot be slain till they have finished their testimony.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv25–27 Took him by night ... - This was done…
Took him by night ... - This was done through a window in the wall, 2Co 11:33.
In a basket - This word is used to denote commonly “the basket in which food was carried,” Mat 15:37; Mar 8:8, Mar 8:20. It was in this way that Rahab let down the spies Jos 2:15, and so David escaped from Saul, 1Sa 19:12. Probably this occurred in an unguarded part of the wall, where some overhanging houses, as is usual in Eastern cities, opened into the outer country. This conduct of Saul was in accordance with the direction of the Lord Jesus Mat 10:23, “When they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another,” etc. Saul was certain of death if he remained; and as he could secure his life by flight without abandoning any principle of religion, or denying his Lord, it was his duty to do so. Christianity requires us to sacrifice our lives only when we cannot avoid it without denying the Saviour, or abandoning the principles of our religion.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v27 Brought him to the apostles Peter and James. See…
Brought him to the apostles Peter and James. See Galatians i. 18. and 19.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v26 E. He Visits Jerusalem, From Which City Also He…
E. He Visits Jerusalem, From Which City Also He Withdraws, In Consequence Of The Plots Of The Jews
Act_9:26-30
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26And [But] when Saul [he]17 was come to18 Jerusalem, he assayed19 [attempted] to join [attach] himself to the disciples: but [and] they were all afraid of him, and believednot [as they did not believe] that he was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared [narrated] unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached [spoken]boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28And he was with them coming in and going out20 [And he went in and out with them for a season] at Jerusalem, [atJer. and spake boldly … Jesus, (Act_9:29)] 29And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus,21 [He spake also] and disputed against the Grecians [with the Hellenists]Acts 22 :but they went about to slay him. 30Which when the brethren knew [ascertained], they brought [conducted] him down to Cesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_9:26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem. This event occurred, according to Gal_1:18, three years after his conversion. The narrative before us, does not, it is true, suggest that such a long period had intervened; the fear with which the Christians of Jerusalem regarded Saul, and the recommendation and intercession of Barnabas, which were, in consequence, rendered necessary, rather convey the impression that the change which had occurred in the former, was of a comparatively recent date, and not one that had taken place three years previously. Nevertheless, it should be carefully noticed that Luke does not say μὴ εἰδὸτες, but μὴ πιστεύοντες ὅτι ἐστὶ μαθητής. They did not believe that he was a disciple of Christ, a truly converted man; they lacked confidence in the purity of his sentiments—in the genuineness of his Christianity. They may have possibly suspected that his conversion to Christ was merely a feint, a bait intended to deceive the Christians, and thus more easily effect their destruction. It is, besides, very probable that such views were held with most tenacity precisely in the spot where his earlier inquisitorial efforts had been made, so that when he at first presented himself in Jerusalem, even after the lapse of years, the believers withdrew from his presence with dread, and it became difficult for him to attach himself (κολλᾶσθαι) to the congregation of Christians.
Act_9:27-28. a. But Barnabas took him.—It is probable that Saul and Barnabas had been previously acquainted; such may have been the more easily the case, as both were Hellenists, and many points of contact existed between Barnabas, a native of Cyprus (Act_4:36), and Saul, a native of Cilicia [ch. Act_21:39], which was not far distant. [“Cyprus is within a few hours’ sail from Cilicia.” (Conyb. and H. Life of Paul. I. 113.)—Tr.]. Barnabas took Saul (ἐπιλαβόμενος, not in the sense of took him to himself, but, graphically, took him by the hand). [Comp. Act_17:19, and especially Act_23:19, τῆς χειρὸς; αὐτὸν is governed by ἤγαγε, as in the analogous cases, Act_16:19; Act_18:17; Luk_14:4, as ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι is always connected with the Gen. (Meyer).—Tr.]. He conducted Saul to the apostles, and related to these the circumstances that had occurred both at the time of the appearance of Jesus, by which Saul was converted, and also subsequently, during the Christian labors of the latter at Damascus (τῶς—ει̇͂δε, καὶ πῶς—ἐπαῤῥησιάσατο) [“not merely that, but how, i. e., in what manner, etc.” (Alex.)—Tr.]. Barnabas does not seem so much; to have imparted new information, as rather to have communicated with authority and precision, as a trustworthy voucher, certain facts to the apostles, of which they had previously derived their knowledge only from remote sources.
b. Brought him to the apostles.—Paul himself states, Gal_1:18-19, that his visit to Jerusalem referred to Peter, and that he had, on that occasion, seen no other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother. Now when Luke says: ἤγαγεπρὸς τοὺς ἀποτόλους, his language does not necessarily express the whole number of the Twelve, and it is unjust to assert (Zeller) that Act_9:27-28 contradict Gal_1:18-19. Still, we cannot conceal it from ourselves, that Luke does not here seem to possess a full knowledge of all the details. [But the fact which he states, fully agrees with Paul’s remark that he had seen two apostles (plur.); his language can as little suggest a doubt of the fulness of his knowledge, as the same general mode of expression, when adopted by Paul (who says, Act_13:40 that a certain passage occurs in the prophets, using the plural number), would imply a want of precise knowledge on his part. So, too, Luke’s omission here of all mention of the trance reported by him, Act_22:17, and noticed in the following note on Act_9:30, is no indication that he was unacquainted with it.—Tr.]
Act_9:29. And disputed against the Grecians [Hellenists.].—[For this word see above, Act_6:1, b. Exeg., and note 6, appended to the text of the present chapter, Act_9:29.—Tr.]. Saul very naturally directed his attention at first to those Jews who were, on account of their birth in heathen countries, more nearly allied to him, as it were, than others, since he himself, as a native of Tarsus [the capital of Cilicia, in Asia Minor], was also a Hellenist. He spoke with these men (ἐλάλει), but as they would not receive the witness which he bore concerning Jesus, their discourse at once became a debate or controversy (συζητεῖν, Act_6:9). The result was, that a feeling of hatred was engendered in the Jews, which speedily prompted them to devise plans for murdering him.
Act_9:30. They brought him down to Cesarea.—The Christians are termed brethren (άδελφοί), for they had now conceived a warm affection for Saul, whom they had at first met with reserve and fear. It appears from the narrative before us, that they ascertained that Saul’s life was threatened, and were hence induced to aid him in withdrawing from the city. Paul himself relates to the Jews, Act_22:17-21, that when he was in the temple, Jesus appeared to him in a trance, and commanded him to “get quickly out of Jerusalem,” as his testimony concerning Jesus would not be willingly received. Both accounts perfectly agree, for the fact that the Jews in Jerusalem were contriving plans for murdering Saul, furnished indubitable evidence that they would not receive his testimony. We may, besides, easily conceive that Saul would not have determined to leave the city in consequence of the information which the brethren imparted to him, but that he did not hesitate a moment to withdraw, after the command which the Lord gave him in a vision.—Paul says in Gal_1:21, that he went from Jerusalem to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. This statement precisely agrees with the passage before us, which names Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, as the point which he intended to reach. He is more precise in his statements than Luke, only in adding that his route conducted him through Syria. [The Cesarea here mentioned is not Cesarea Philippi, Mat_16:13, etc., near the sources of the Jordan, but Cesarea Stratonis, a seaport on the Mediterranean, mentioned above, Act_8:40.—Tr.]. Hence Paul did not at once proceed by sea from Cesarea to Tarsus, as the present narrative would allow us to conjecture, but either travelled entirely by land, along the coast, after leaving Cesarea, passing through Phenicia and Syria (Meyer), or took ship at Cesarea, the capital, but landed at Tyre, Sidon, or some other city on the coast, for which the vessel chanced to be bound, and from that point traversed Syria by land. The latter supposition is the more probable, as the Christians accompanied him as far as Cesarea; this circumstance indicates that he continued his journey by water, after reaching that city, for if he had proceeded further by land, the nearest road would have conducted him through Samaria, Galilee, etc.—At this point we lose sight of Saul; he reappears in Act_11:25. The preceding facts lead us to assume that when he reached his home, he did not fail to proclaim the tidings concerning Jesus Christ. [Possibly, (according to Conyb. and H. Life of Paul, I. 114), the conversion of his “kinsmen” (Rom_16:7; Rom_16:11; Rom_16:21), and, specially, of his sister, the mother of the nephew mentioned in Act_23:16, may be assigned to this last visit which Paul appears to have made to the home of his youth.—Tr.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Even at this comparatively late period, Saul does not yet announce himself in Jerusalem as an apostle, but only desires to be recognized as a disciple, and to be received by the brethren in that city as a genuine member of the church of Christ. And the testimony which he delivered in Jerusalem concerning Jesus, is, in its whole character, simply the declaration of an ordinary, but faithful Christian, whose joy proceeded from faith; it is not that of a man who had received a commission, or been invested with a special office.
2. The discussions of Saul and the Hellenists in Jerusalem vividly remind us of those which Stephen had previously held with the same class of people [Act_6:9 ff.]; the latter had likewise assumed a controversial character. It is, besides, remarkable, that the same man who had entertained such hostile sentiments with respect to Stephen, and had heartily rejoiced when he witnessed his execution (Act_8:1), should now walk in the footsteps of the latter, and assume the same functions which had previously been assigned to Stephen. Christ is a King who enlarges and governs his kingdom in a wonderful manner.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_9:20. And straightway he preached, etc.—He now appropriated the words to himself: “I believe, therefore have I spoken.” [Psa_116:10; 2Co_4:13]. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the life and soul of all evangelical preaching.
Act_9:21. But all that heard him were amazed.—The amazement created by the conversion of Saul: I. It exercised a salutary influence on the converted man himself, by humbling him, since it reminded him of his former evil course. So, too, the new convert must always expect to be regarded not only with hatred and scorn by his former associates in sin, but also with doubt and distrust by his new brethren in the faith. But it, H. Furnished, at the same time, most honorable testimony to the wonderful power of the Lord. He turns the hearts of men as the rivers of water [Pro_21:1], and the reality of his works of grace is not affected either by the doubts of a weak faith, or the mockery of unbelief, while the wolf is found dwelling in peace with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, etc. [Isa_11:6].
Act_9:22. But Saul increased the more in strength.—“Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.” [Mat_13:12].—Our growth in the new life is the best refutation of those who doubt the sincerity of our conversion.—And confounded the Jews.—He now contends, not with carnal, but with spiritual weapons.—The opponents of Christianity are not successfully repelled by ingenuity and learning alone; we need, besides, a knowledge, derived from experience, of the salvation wrought by Christ, so that we can say with Paul: “Christ liveth in me.” [Gal_2:20]. (From Ap. Past.)—Proving that this is very Christ.—The Holy Ghost directed Paul in the choice of the most appropriate themes—those that were most of all needed at that time, and at all times, namely, that Jesus is the Son of God, (Act_9:20), and that Jesus is the Christ, (Act_9:22), (Ap. Past.).
Act_9:23. And after that many days were fulfilled.—God has appointed certain times, years, places and circumstances, for each of his servants, in which he is to learn, to experience, and to perform certain things. Happy is he who rightly discerns his appointed task, and faithfully redeems the time. The ἡμέραι ἱκαναὶ at length come to an end. (Ap. Past.).—The Jews took counsel to kill him.—Already are the Lord’s words fulfilled, that Saul must suffer many things for His name’s sake [Act_9:16]. Hatred and persecution are among the signs of true conversion.
Act_9:24. But their laying wait was known of Saul.—He had previously united with the Jews in their evil counsel to slay the disciples of Jesus. Hence, when God caused him to be informed that the Jews were now seeking his own life, he must have been conscious alike of a feeling of shame, and of a feeling of blessedness. (Ap. Past.).—They watched the gates day and night.—The enemies watch day and night for the purpose of killing the servant of the Lord, but the faithful Keeper of Israel also neither slumbers nor sleeps [Psa_121:4-5], and He guards the life of his servant with even greater vigilance. King Aretas had placed his men at the disposal of the enemies of Christ, but the King of heaven and earth gave his angels charge over his elect, that not a hair of his head should be touched. (Prom Leonh. and Sp.).
Act_9:25.—Let him down … in a basket.—Saul, in whose case the Lord had already performed such great miracles, nevertheless does not reject the simple means of a basket which his brethren offered for the purpose of effecting his escape. We are not permitted to expect extraordinary aid from God, when ordinary means can be employed. (Ap. Past.).
Act_9:26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem.—We learn from Gal_1:17-18, that he had previously withdrawn to Arabia, and allowed three years to pass, before he came to Jerusalem. This was, no doubt, an important and blessed triennium for him, during which he was prepared and qualified by God, in silence and retirement, for his future office. Studiosi theologiæ and candidati ministerii may here find an excellent example. We could wish that no one would assume the office of the Christian ministry, until he had passed such a blessed triennium præparatorium in the school of the Holy Ghost. (Ap. Past.).—They were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.—The suspicions of the Christians were pardonable: it is not prudent at once to embrace every one who professes to be a brother in Christ. Paul met with a painful humiliation, but also with a salutary trial, when he was compelled to suffer for his former conduct, although three years had passed since his repentance and conversion.—It was a hard beginning, when he found that, after having scarcely escaped from his enemies, he was not received by the disciples. But when he thought on his former course, he did not wonder that he was regarded with horror, and when the brethren, influenced by a justifiable fear, repelled him, he patiently submitted. By this course he demonstrated the genuineness of his conversion; for he who had once been so furious and cruel, now calmly endures persecution and contempt. (Calvin).—It is well when any one is ultimately found to be better, than he had at first been supposed to be. (Rieger).
Act_9:27. But Barnabas took him, etc.—The kind and loving act of Barnabas must have indeed exhibited him to the sorrowing soul of the rejected Paul, as a “son of consolation.” [Act_4:36]. (Leon, and Sp.).—Thus the Lord always infuses his consolations into the bitterest cup of sorrow, especially by means of the faithful love of a like-minded friend. (Langbein).—And declared how he had seen the Lord in the way.—Biographies, accounts of the conversion of others and of the dealings of divine grace in their case, may often instruct, edify and humble us. Still, we should always remember that the ways of God are manifold, and that the souls of all are not conducted in the same path.
Act_9:28. And he was with them, etc.—He is, consequently, now recognized as a brother, and the old enmity is forgotten. It is in accordance with the usage of the world, but inconsistent with Christian love, when men obstinately hold up to view the sins of those whose words and conduct prove that they are truly converted, solely for the purpose of veiling a work of grace, and causing the name of Christ to be blasphemed. (Leonh. and Sp.).
Act_9:29. And disputed against the Grecians [with the Hellenists].—He adopted precisely the course of Stephen [Act_6:9], whose death had given him
pleasure, but who had now risen up in him with augmented power. Such are the wonderful ways of God in his kingdom, and his gracious acts in dealing with the souls of men.
Act_9:30. Which when the brethren knew, they brought him, etc.—The flight and deliverance of the apostle (as on the previous occasion in Damascus, [Act_9:25]), furnish a testimony, I. For Paul himself; he appears to have been induced to flee rather by the persuasions of the brethren, than by any anxiety on his own account; II. For the brethren, who could appreciate him, and whose faithful love led them to adopt measures for his deliverance; III. For the Lord, who watched over the life of his servant, and was his refuge in Jerusalem as in Damascus, in Tarsus as in Cesarea. [See above, Exeg. Act_9:30.]
ON THE WHOLE SECTION, Act_9:20-30.
The testimony concerning Christ: I. The source from which it must proceed—a heart apprehended of Christ [Php_3:12], and converted; II. Its substance: Christ, as the Son of God, and the Saviour of men; III. The effects produced by it: amazement, on the one hand—blessed fruits, on the other. (Langbein).
The evidences of a genuine conversion: I. Joyful confession of Christ, (Act_9:20); II. Willing endurance of the enmity of the world, (Act_9:23); III. Humble intercourse with believers, (Act_9:26); IV. A godly walk in the service of the Lord, (Act_9:28). (Leonh. and Sp.).
The dangers of newly converted persons: I. The hatred and persecution of the world (Act_9:23); II. Distrust on the part of believers (Act_9:26); III. The spiritual pride of their own hearts; IV. Contempt for the Church and the appointed means of grace, (ib).
The progress of the conversion of Paul (Act_9:7-23): I. The first impression—a deep feeling of his spiritual inability (Act_9:8); II. The first sign of life—“behold, he prayeth.” (Act_9:11); III. His first testimony—“that Christ is the Son of God.” (Act_9:20); IV. His first experience—the cross, for Christ’s sake (Act_9:23). (Jaspis).
The evidences of faith furnished by the newly converted Paul: I. Joyful confession of Christ before men (Act_9:20; Act_9:22; Act_9:28); II. Decided growth in the new life (Act_9:22); III. Undaunted courage amid the persecutions of the world (Act_9:23-25); IV. Humble and patient endurance of the distrust of the brethren (Act_9:26).
The first essay of arms of a soldier of Christ [2Ti_2:3]: it is his duty, I. To take an oath that he will be unchangeably faithful to his banner (Act_9:20; Act_9:23); H. To exercise himself diligently in the use of his weapons (Act_9:22); III. To take his position in the ranks with modesty (Act_9:26; Act_9:28); IV. To advance against the enemy with courage (Act_9:22; Act_9:29); V. To retire obediently at the signal (Act_9:25; Act_9:30).
The early years of probation in the office of the ministry: I. The first official tasks; II. The first official joys; III. The first official sorrows.
[The experience of Paul at his first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion (Act_9:26-30; Gal_1:17-19); I. His reception by the Christians; II. The conduct of Barnabas; III. His interviews with Peter and James; IV. His discussions with the Jews; V. Their enmity; VI. The manner of his escape from the city. —Tr.]
Footnotes:
[17]Act_9:26. a. The reading ὁ Σαὐλος in some MSS. [G. H.], or ὁ Παῦλος in one MS. [E.] is spurious. [Omitted in A. B. C.; Cod. Sin. Vulg.; “an insertion, as in Act_9:19;” Alford; omitted by him, Lach. and Tisch.—Tr.]
[18]Act_9:26. b. The reading εἰς Ἱερ. [in A. B. C. and also Cod. Sin.] is not as strongly supported as ἐν [found in B. E. G. H.]; the latter is, besides, the more difficult reading, as παραγίνεσθαι is usually followed by εἰς; hence ἐν is preferred by all the recent critics. [But Alf. reads εἰς, regarding ἐν as a corruption, since παραγενόμενος is “taken absolutely.” De Wette also prefers ει̇͂ς, as Luke uniformly employs it in conjunction with this verb; but precisely for this reason Meyer prefers ἐν, which could have been more easily changed into εἰς. than vice versâ.—Tr.]
[19]Act_9:26. c. Ἐπειρᾶτο [of text. rec.] is as well sustained by external evidence [E. G. H.] as the Act. ἐπείραζεν (Lachmann) [found in A. B. C.; Cod. Sin.], but is less usual than the latter, and is therefore to be considered as genuine. [ἐπειρᾶτο, Alf. and Tisch.—Tr.]
[20]Act_9:28. The words καὶ ἐκπορ. are wanting in two MSS. [G. H.] of the first, and in many of the second rank [minuscules]; they were probably omitted only on account of the preposition εἰς which follows, and to which ἐκπορ. did not seem to correspond: but the reading is supported by Cod. Sin. also, and should be retained [as in Lach., Tisch. and Alf.].—Εἰς is sustained by decisive evidence [A. B. C. E. G.; Cod. Sin.], and should (in opposition to Meyer’s view) be preferred to ἐν, which occurs only in one of the older MSS. [H.].—Παῤῥηαι., without καί before it, is sufficiently attested [καί found in E. G. H., but omitted in A. B. C.; Cod. Sin.]; καί may have been the more readily inserted [by copyists] as two of the MSS. [G. H.] of three [E. G. H.] which exhibit it, omit καὶ ἐκπορ.
[21]Act_9:29. a. [Luther, Lechler, etc. in their versions, Lach., Tisch., etc., in the original, attach παῤῥηαιαζόμενος etc. to Act_9:28, and begin Act_9:29 with Ἐλάλει.—The text. rec. has immediately before Ἐλάλει the following: τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, with G. H.; τοῦ κυρ. is omitted in C., which exhibits only Ἰησοῦ, while A. B. E.; Cod. Sin.; Syr. Vulg. omit Ἰησοῦ. Alf. with Lach. and Tisch., accordingly exhibits only τοῦ κυρίου.—Tr.]
[22]Act_9:29. b. Instead of Ἑλληνιστὰς, [of text. rec.] A., which is followed by some ancient Latin versions, exhibits ̔́Ελληνας. There can be no doubt that the latter is spurious [a later correction from Act_11:20 (Meyer; Alf.)]. The authority of Cod. Sin. has also been recently found to sustain Ἑλληνιστάς [which appears in the editions of Lach., Tisch. and Alf.—Tr.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv25–27 Then the disciples . . . by night let…
Then the disciples . . . by night let him down--"through a window" (Co2 11:33).
by the wall--Such overhanging windows in the walls of Eastern cities were common, and are to be seen in Damascus to this day.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv25–27 25. By the wall—The base or window of a…
25. By the wall—The base or window of a house projecting beyond the wall allowed Saul to be let down without, and so escape.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv25–27 25. Then the disciples took him by night] The…
25. Then the disciples took him by night] The oldest MSS. read “But his disciples, &c.,” and this well-supported reading favours the explanation of the “many days” given in Act_9:24. On his second visit Saul had remained long enough to nave gathered round him a party of followers who accepted him as their teacher.
and let him down by [through] the wall in a basket] In 2Co_11:33 St Paul says, “And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall and escaped.” Such apertures can be found in the walls of houses in all defenced cities, and it was by such a way that Rahab let the spies escape from Jericho (Jos_2:15), and Michal aided David’s escape (1Sa_19:12). The basket here mentioned (spuris) is the same that is spoken of (Mat_15:37) at the feeding of the four thousand in the mountain district west of the Sea of Galilee. It appears to have been large and soft, fit for carrying a large quantity of miscellaneous articles from the plain into the hills, while the baskets (cophinoi) spoken of at the feeding of the five thousand (Mat_14:20) were such as the multitude, which in that case had followed Jesus on foot out of the cities, would be likely to carry in their hands. In a basket of the former kind Saul might easily be wrapped and then lowered over the city wall.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv25–27 (25) Let him down by the wall in a…
(25) Let him down by the wall in a basket.—The basket is the spuris of Mat_15:37, where see Note. In 2Co_11:33 St. Paul describes it by another word (sarganè), which gives the idea of a wicker or rope-work hamper. It seems to follow, from the tone in which the Apostle there speaks of this adventure, that it had been made matter of ridicule. It is connected in his thoughts with the “infirmities” (probably with his smallness of stature) of which he was content to boast. The escape was effected, like that of the spies from the house of Rahab (Jos_2:15) and of David from his own house (1Sa_19:11), through an opening or “window” in the town wall. Such a window is still shown in the wall of Damascus as the traditional scene of the escape.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv25–27 The beginning of perils for Paul.
The beginning of perils for Paul.
To this beginning of "perils" Paul will often in later days of life have looked back. He did not live to any prolonged period, but if he had, there is not a length of life so long nor charged with changes so violent as to be able to cut off from us the effects of the touching comparisons and the telling contrasts of beginning and ending. Many a broken portion of life offers us such effects; but how much more moving those of life itself! Long was the list of perils and sufferings, varied and sharp the discipline of them; but when the rehearsal of them comes, (2Co_11:16-33) it speaks a perseverance unbroken, a courage unquenched, a heart, fidelity, love, stronger and more determined than ever. That rehearsal somewhat remarkably closes with the mention of the first peril of Paul, as here given us, as though his memory, deliberately traveling backward, reached last that which life brought to him first. The opportunity may be seized for considering at least one side of the great service of suffering. It must be a ministry full of expression, full of meaning, full of deep feeling, and, if not made full of use also, it must be of all loss "most miserable." In the present connection let us observe that
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I IT TESTS A CAUSE, OF WHAT SORT IT IS. With rare exceptions, it may be said that the cause which bears the test of suffering, and of much suffering, will be a cause alike great and good. Human hearts, strong though they be, are not strong enough to bear gratuitously a vast amount of suffering. The vast amount of the worst sort of suffering that sin entails, that comes inevitably in its wake, is of course not in the place for a test, and cannot operate as such. The abundant presence of it, therefore, where it is, does not invalidate the position. The cause that asks suffering to espouse it, to sustain it, to carry it to completion, is self-hedged around as with some sovereign safeguard. The frivolous will not come near it, and the great multitude will pay no court to it. But:
1. If it arrest the attention, kindle the enthusiasm, win the practical confidence of a few, and those, perhaps, the thoughtful, the useful, the unselfish, it is a considerable augury of something substantial and substantial good in it.
2. Enthusiasm can do very great things for an hour. It will encounter and even court any amount of suffering. We cannot, therefore, consider taking service in a cause that imposes suffering any decisive test. The test, however, becomes much more decisive when that service is persevered in, still entailing suffering, year after year, and on to the maturity of life.
3. The highest kind of human test is reached when the cause is one persevered in to the very end of life, through suffering all the way and almost every step. The enterprise that can secure this allegiance says as much for itself as any enterprise on earth can, and the best. And this is abundantly the case with Christianity. When Saul embraced it, it meant peril, and labor, and privation, and much direct suffering. But, "being persuaded of it, he embraced it," and was faithful to it through the succeeding periods and phases of his own earthly career, and up to the very last. Then in old age, beaten and weather-beaten, in prison and in chains and bonds, he does not dream of repenting or of recanting, but says, "I am not ashamed," and bids others follow in his steps. (2Ti_1:12) If it had been a flowery path and an easy career, Paul"s perseverance would have been no argument for it. But because it was a suffering career, his perseverance spoke, not his praise alone, but that of his Master"s cause yet more. How many a cause will waken enthusiasm! how few will sustain it! How many will beg it! how few reward it! There is the difference of a world, ay, of two worlds, between the two.
II SUFFERING TESTS A MAN, OF WHAT SORT HE IS. If any one persevere in fighting a suffering battle, it is certainly so far forth an argument for the object of the battle. But if he do not fight the battle, or beginning do not carry out to the end the struggle, it by no means condemns the cause. The question will have to be settled whether blame lie with the cause or whether it do not rather lie with the person.
1. Suffering for the individual tries high moral quality and improves it.
2. Suffering tries many individual virtues and graces those of faith, of hope, of perseverance, of love that fires cannot burn away nor death destroy. And it unfailingly improves them.
3. Suffering certainly tends to fix and give clear "evidence" to an unearthly type of character.
4. Suffering lends distinctness to conviction, to purpose, to achievement. It is a disinfectant, an alterative, and a tonic all in one. Pleasure and indulgence enfeeble, that is, they tend to enfeeble and to enervate, once past a very moderate amount. Suffering, short of an excessive amount of it, makes keen the faculty, the sight, the soul itself! Wonderful is its bracing effect on body and mind, on heart and life.
III SUFFERING BECOMES SOMETIMES THE OCCASION OF A GREAT MORAL DISPLAY IN THE WORLD. Beside the uses of suffering in the good fruits it produces on individual character; and beside its use as a test, whether of worth in an enterprise or of strength in a person, it cannot be denied that it lends itself to special moral service, often on a large scale and in a wide theatre. Against it all nature rebels. For that very reason, when it is voluntarily encountered, patiently borne, and embraced even to the cross, to stoning, to torture, and the stake, the world has no help for it but to notice what is transpiring. An unwilling world is put into the dilemma that it is either convinced or convicted. The confession is wrested from all beholders that there is something present which begs and deserves close scrutiny and respectful attention, or that they are in any given instance deserting precedents that in all others they have observed. When the testimony of suffering is shown forth in one, the force of it will partly depend on the notoriety that his conduct may win, and it may undoubtedly be weakened by the suspicion of individual eccentricity until this again be rebutted. But when the testimony is borne by many and for a length of time, it is equivalent to the presence of a new and very real moral force among mankind, many of the grandest and most impressive triumphs of Christianity have been owing to this, and many of its most significant impulses have been due to it. Men and suffering have calmly faced one another, have measured the force of one another; neither have shrunk from the wager men have not fled and suffering has not yielded up its sting. And yet they have made common cause, and have made also most wonderfully effective fight. Something in man, given him from without and from above, has made him fearless of what all nature made him to fear. It is an exhibition in the arena of the world; it never fails of having witnesses; it always leaves its traces. And the Paul of perils and sufferings ever stands one of the clearest and noblest illustrations of a great and effectual moral display. B.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem he essayed…
Act_9:26-30
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem he essayed to Join himself to the disciples.
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Sauls emotions on returning to Jerusalem
He was returning to it from a spiritual as Ezra had from a bodily captivity, and to his renewed mind all things appeared new. What an emotion smote his heart at the first distant view of the Temple, that house of sacrifice, that edifice of prophecy. Its sacrifices had been realised, the Lamb of God had been offered; its prophecies had been fulfilled, the Lord had come unto it. As he approached the gates, he might have trodden the very spot where he had so exultingly assisted in the death of Stephen, and he entered them perfectly content, were it Gods will, to be dragged out through them to the same fate. He would feel a peculiar tie of brotherhood to that martyr, for he could not now be ignorant that the same Jesus who in such glory had called him, had but a little time before appeared in the same glory to assure the expiring Stephen. The ecstatic look and words of the dying saint now came fresh upon his memory with their real meaning. When he entered into the city, what deep thoughts were suggested by the haunts of his youth, and by the sight of the spots where he had go eagerly sought that knowledge which he had so eagerly abandoned. What an intolerable burden had he cast off! He felt as a glorified spirit may be supposed to feel on revisiting the scenes of its fleshly concern. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)
Sauls first visit after his conversion to Jerusalem
I. His admission to Church membership.
1. Sought. He essayed, i.e., endeavoured to join himself to the disciples. Amongst them was Peter--an object of special attraction (Gal_1:18). He had heard, doubtless, of his wonderful sermon at Pentecost, and otherwise from the Christians at Damascus. James was there, too, the Lords brother. This endeavour to get into the new fellowship indicated--
(1) A wonderful change in his social character. Three years before, the disciples were the object of his indignation.
(2) The law of social life. There is a craving for intercourse with those of kindred thoughts, sympathies, and alms.
2. Obstructed. They were all afraid of him. It would seem that he had no letters of commendation from Damascus, owing to the hurried manner of his escape. So that we are not surprised at the panic here. This obstruction, however, must have been--
(1) Painful to him. He had been a Christian three years, had held fellowship with the disciples at Damascus, had preached boldly there, and had studied the Christian faith and cultivated the Christian life in the Solitudes of Arabia. So he must have felt it hard, though just, to have been now suspected.
(2) Natural. Purity and peace required caution, and the apostles case was a suspicious one, with the persecution fresh upon the memory.
3. Attained. This was through the kind offices of Barnabas, a man known and honoured by them, and possibly an acquaintance of Sauls. As Cyprus was only a few hours sail from Cilicia, Barnabas, in introducing Saul, pleads on his behalf the only sufficient qualification for Church membership (verse 27).
4. Enjoyed (verse 28). He would--
(1) Come in to them with some new thought, new impressions, new deeds wrought for Christ, which would stimulate and cheer the brethren.
(2) Go out with their prayers, counsel, love, bracing him for heroic work. Blessed the man who has a spiritual home. Such homes are where moral giants are trained.
II. His proclamation of the gospel (verse 29).
1. The subject of his ministry. In the name of the Lord Jesus--a subject he once hated, and which he preferred to many subjects which, as a man of genius and learning, he might have taken. He viewed everything through it, and judged the world by it.
2. Its sphere--Grecians--Hellenistic Jews. The same zeal which had combated Stephen now defended the cause for which he died.
3. Its style.
(1) Boldly. Nothing but an invincible courage could have enabled him to appear before such an audience on such a theme.
(2) He disputed. He did not, as a fanatic would, declaim, but submitted theses for discussion.
4. Its results.
(1) Persecution to himself.
(2) Increased sympathy of the Church (verse 30). (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Saul at Jerusalem
1. It was in blindness that he had first entered Damascus, and now he is forced to flee from it under the friendly cover of darkness. As he proceeded to Jerusalem, he could not pass the scene of his conversion without a holy shudder. Every turn of the road must have reminded him of his eastward journey. But he hurries westward a changed man. And he must have wondered how he should meet his instigators, and have surmised how they would curse him. And if he passed the place of Stephens martyrdom, his soul must have trembled in its gratitude to sovereign mercy.
2. His arrival created as much doubt among the Christians as it had done at Damascus. He did not attempt to take them by storm, and parade the glory of his conversion, but humbly sought admission, but his veracity was questioned, and they deemed him to be a wolf in lambs clothing--no small trial for one who had done and suffered so much under his new convictions. But Barnabas kindly interfered and vouched for his sincerity, and then was he admitted to fellowship.
3. The apostle of the circumcision and the apostle of the Gentiles dwelt for fifteen days under one roof. What conversations, discussions, and projected enterprises from two minds so unlike in structure and discipline, and yet so very like in zeal and courage! Peter loved Palestine, yet Paul loved it none the less that his heart embraced the world. The former felt at home in the sphere of the Old Testament, the other stretched beyond it while he did not forsake it. Peter did what he knew to be his duty in repairing to the house of Cornelius, but he did not feel at perfect liberty to repeat such deeds; while the untrammelled Paul exclaims, Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I magnify mine office. In a word, Peter was like the Jordan, the stream that belonged exclusively to his fatherland, though a foreigner, like Naaman, might once be healed in it; but Paul resembled the great sea, which washes the shores of the three continents. Saul stayed only a fortnight in Jerusalem, but he was not and could not be idle. Four features of his preaching come into view.
I. The class to whom he addressed himself were the hellenists. The Jews born in Judaea were victims of narrowness and prejudice: the genius of the place held them in bondage. But the Jews born and brought up in other countries had mingled with other races, and their minds were expanded with literary and commercial intercourse. As one of them, Saul specially appealed to them. For there are certain ties of blood, education, and language which are to be recognised even in the advocacy of the truth. Saul did not fling the gospel in the face of the high priest, nor go to the temple and harangue the fanatical crowds. He was no unreasoning fanatic, unable to hold his tongue or control his temper; no agitator, reckless as to circumstances. He was, indeed, a man of one idea, but it did not so overmaster him that he knew not when, how, and where to develop it.
II. His preaching took the form of disputation. He did not come forth simply with a set speech, but after he spoke he allowed the free criticism of all his statements. He met his opponents openly and fully, prepared to reply to their questions and to respond to their challenge. One opponent might question his interpretation of the law or the prophets; or another would affirm some base thing about our Lords life, or some stupid and malignant thing about his religion, while to the one and the other Saul would speak with loving soul, reasoning out the validity of his interpretation and teaching the truth as to the facts of the Masters career and death. And though another disputant, with a leer and a frown, should refer to his conversion, the allusion could neither shame nor intimidate one who had seen that Just One, and heard the voice of His mouth.
III. His preaching was bold, for his convictions were thorough. He believed, therefore he spake. Had there been any suspicions that possibly after all he might be in error--then his preaching might have been faltering. But Sauls mind could not admit the possibility of a doubt; and the glorified Jesus being his shield, he was not alarmed at what man shall do. He could not modify, and he would not recant. Pressed on every side by the Grecians, he was impervious alike to execration and ridicule--a mighty man of valour, clad in the whole armour of God.
IV. He was bold in the name of the Lord Jesus, i.e., he not only preached Christ, but he claimed His express authority for so preaching Him. Timidity would be treachery to his Master, cruelty to the world, and unfaithfulness to his own convictions. And all this brave outspokenness was not the arrogance of a novice, but the courage which one feels who has vowed fidelity both to God and to man, and who is supported by the grace which never fails. Conclusion: That Sauls appearance should impress some needs not be doubted, but the multitude refused to believe. Nay, they went about to slay him. In the meantime he had enjoyed a remarkable vision in the Temple, in which he saw Christ and heard Him say, Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me. As Saul had been only two weeks there, he wished to remain a little longer, and, probably with the advice of Peter, thought of selecting Jerusalem as a field of labour. Another scene like Pentecost might be anticipated, and Peter might be hoping much from the ardour, erudition, and eloquence of his junior colleague. Man proposes, but God disposes. But as Saul did nothing without a reason, he honestly tells the Lord why he had come to labour in Jerusalem (Act_22:19-20). The ground taken by Saul is very intelligible. The population of Jerusalem had known what he was, and he wished them to know what he had become. Therefore he thought that on the spot where such points were notorious, he had a special claim to be heard against himself and in favour of that system which he had adopted from the best of all reasons. Moses, when summoned to go to Egypt, pleaded want of eloquence; Gideon would not march till the fleece had been wetted, nay, till the omen had been reversed; Jeremiah urged his youth and inexperience when called to the prophetic office; Jonah set sail for Tarshish, instead of proceeding to Nineveh; Ananias, when bidden to seek out a stranger who had recently arrived at Damascus, demurred; and Saul, thinking himself possessed of special qualifications for a sphere of labour which he preferred, was backward toward that very work for which he had been born and called, and in which he so soon achieved signal success, and won imperishable renown. Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? The right man in the right place, has become a popular expression for mutual adaptation. Saul did not verify the saying either in Damascus or Jerusalem, but it might be truly predicted of him through his whole subsequent career, when he spoke, travelled, toiled, and suffered, as one appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. (J. Eadie, D. D.)
Church membership
I. The character of the persons on whom the duty of Church membership devolves.
1. It is the duty of all who call themselves Christians to separate themselves from the world and to unite themselves with a particular Church; yet, before they can do this in a scriptural manner, they must exercise repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; they must first give themselves to the Lord, and then to His people according to His will. Personal must precede social religion. A Christian is the highest style of man--he is a disciple of Christ; he believes His gospel; he loves Him; he imitates His example; he yields obedience to His commands; and he lives, not unto himself, but unto Him who died for him and rose again.
2. That none but such persons are qualified for Church membership is evident from the New Testament. In the case before us, when Saul essayed to join himself to the disciples, they did not receive him till they had ascertained from Barnabas that he was a disciple indeed. And when the apostle wrote to the Churches he had formed he addressed them to the saints--to the beloved of God--to the faithful in Christ Jesus, etc. And if persons of another character gained admission, they were to put away that wicked person, and to withdraw from every brother that walked disorderly.
3. Besides this direct evidence that personal piety is an essential prerequisite for Church communion, there are other considerations to show its necessity. Without personal piety--
(1) A man can have no spiritual communion with the Church--for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
(2) He is morally unable to promote the great objects for which the Church of Christ was established.
(3) His Church membership may only serve to confirm his self-righteousness and self-deception.
4. The Church would soon lose its distinctive character, and possess nothing of religion but the name.
II. The indispensable duty of all such persons to unite themselves in membership with a Church of Christ. This appears--
1. From the fact that the Christian Church is instituted by the authority of Christ. He is the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. Upon this rock, says He, I will build My Church. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. Besides, when Christians are addressed, it is not only in their personal, but also in their social capacity. They are described not as scattered stones, but as a spiritual temple--not as a house only, but as a city--not as distinct and separated individuals, but as fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. And the will of Christ, in this respect, is quite in accordance with the social character of man, and with the natural tendency and influence of personal piety. Not to unite with His Church, therefore, is to disregard His authority, to impeach His wisdom, and to set an example of spiritual celibacy, which, if followed by all, would subvert his institutions, and render a Church of Christ entirely unknown.
2. The uniform conduct of the primitive Christians. In the pure and primitive ages of Christianity, the several Churches contained the whole number of the faithful. Then everyone who acknowledged himself a Christian felt it to be a duty to join himself to the disciples of Christ, though he thereby risked his property, his liberty, and his life.
3. The command of Christ, relative to the celebration of the Lords Supper, Do this in remembrance of Me, was a command given, not to an individual, but to a society. It was to be celebrated by those who came together in the Church. The same authority which commands, Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, also commands this, and you act in defiance of that authority, whether you forsake the public worship of God, or neglect communion with the Church of Christ.
III. The advantages which a prompt performance of this duty will secure. Your communion with the Church of Christ--
1. Will warrant the exercise of confidence in prayer, and authorise you to expect the blessing of God. Whilst you live in the neglect of this duty, I do not see how you can consistently exercise the one, or expect the other. When we reverence the Redeemer as our Lawgiver, we may consistently expect Him to become our Intercessor, and when we ascend the hill where His blessing is promised, we may confidently expect that there it will be commanded.
2. Will furnish you with additional means and motives for perseverance in holiness. You will be brought under the immediate charge and care of the pastor, and become associated with brethren who will watch over you with charity, and sympathise with you in your sorrows and your joys, and pray for you. Besides which, you will be surrounded with obligations to circumspection, arising from the sacredness of your relationship. You will then be no longer an isolated individual, like a flower in a wilderness, wasting its sweetness in the desert air, dimmed in its beauties, and stunted in its growth; but, being planted in the house of the Lord, you will flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon, still bringing forth fruit even in old age.
3. Will be a source of much holy peace and joy. There is a sweet and sacred pleasure which springs from the conviction of having acted according to the Divine command.
IV. The objections and apologies by which those who neglect this duty attempt to justify or to excuse their conduct.
1. I am not yet qualified for Church membership. If by this you intimate that you are not Christians, then your fear is just; or if you refer to the righteousness which is of the law, you have not yet attained it, and you never will. But perhaps you mean a more mature and perfect character. If so, you have mistaken the design of the institution. The Church is formed expressly for the reception of all who repent and believe the gospel; and they are commanded to enter it, not when their Christian graces are matured, but in order that they may be matured. It is at once a nursery for the babe in Christ, a school for the education of the young man, and a sanctuary for the refuge and repose of such an one as Paul the aged.
2. I can go to heaven without being a member of a Church. Does not the ingratitude and presumption which this objection manifests, render it unworthy of a reply? Is there not a degree of haughtiness and flippancy in such a sentiment, which betrays a heart which is not right in the sight of God? Suppose you do go to heaven without it--will the recollection of your neglect and disobedience be any source of pleasure to you when you get there? Go to heaven without it! Shame on the man who professes to follow the Lamb, and yet tells us that he can travel to heaven by trampling on His institutions, and enter there, not by the door, like an honest man, but by some other way, like a thief and a robber.
3. I have a relative or friend who is not willing that I should become a member of the Church. Now, if you were to state this apology fully, you would add, and therefore I have determined to consult his will rather than the will of Christ. But further, if your relative or friend be not pious, is your present conduct likely to make him so? Will he not suspect your loyalty and love to the Redeemer, and learn by your example to be negligent and disobedient? If your relative or friend will not accompany you to the Cross and to the Church, you must go alone.
4. I fear that the Church will not receive me. No Church constituted according to the New Testament will refuse to receive you if you profess and manifest repentance and faith. If you are a Christian, however young and feeble, Christ has received you, and it would be at our peril to reject you, for the Church is not ours.
5. I fear that, at some future time, I may bring dishonour on the cause of Christ. But is there nothing dishonourable in your present conduct? Besides, are you more likely to be safe in the world than in the Church? And is Christ less likely to preserve you when you are keeping His commandments? (J. Alexander.)
Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.--
Barnabas and Saul
The first association of two names, afterwards linked together for good or evil, is fraught with interest. How much more the earliest combination of Barnabas and Saul--to issue in widespread blessing for the Church and the world. It is significant, however, that Barnabas alone had the genius to detect the genuineness of Sauls conversion, and his latent possibilities. How many splendid lives have been gained for the Church, in the teeth of the Churchs opposition, by the kindness and sagacity of some one man.
I. What Barnabas did; as exhibiting the conduct of a true brother.
1. He took him.
(1) Sympathised with his painful position.
(2) Relieved him from his embarrassing isolation.
(3) Identified himself with him by taking his stand on the same platform. And thus--
(4) Effectually helped him in circumstances, where from his previous record he was powerless.
2. He brought him to the apostles. He was not satisfied with sending a letter of recommendation, or with telling Saul to mention his name--a cheap and easy method often adopted nowadays--but went with him to vouch for his character, and to accept all responsibility for him. How many good Christians today are outside the fold because of the unjust suspicions of their fellow Christians! And how much room there is for a Barnabas in those Churches where mere orthodoxy or respectability rule instead of the Spirit of Christ.
II. What barnabas said: as defining the character of a true convert.
1. How that he had seen the Lord. The vision of Christ as Saviour and Lord essential to true conversion. Paul himself confesses as much (Gal_1:15-16).
2. That he had spoken to Him. Behold he prayeth was the assurance Christ gave to Ananias of Pauls conversion.
3. That he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. Paul tells us that when a man believes, he will speak. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. (J. W. Burn.)
Sympathy: its practical value
To the generosity and clear-sightedness of Joseph of Cyprus, on this and on a later occasion, the apostle owed a vast debt of gratitude. Next only to the man who achieves the greatest and most blessed deeds is he who, perhaps himself wholly incapable of such high work, is yet the first to help and encourage the genius of others. We often do more good by our sympathy than by our labours, and render to the world a more lasting service by absence of jealousy, and recognition of merit, than we could ever render by the straining efforts of personal ambition. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv25–27 25. Let him down by the wall. As the…
25. Let him down by the wall. As the gates were guarded, there was no escape that way. Houses built against or on the wall, would afford an opportunity of letting him down on the outside. “And through a window, in a basket, was I let down by the wall and escaped his hands” (2 Cor. 11:33).
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v26 Act_9:27. Barnabas (Act_4:36) appears here as the patron of…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_9:27. Barnabas (Act_4:36) appears here as the patron of Saul, whom he takes by the hand (not literally, but metaphorically), and introduces to the apostles.
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Act_9:28-29, should read: And he was with them going in and going out—i.e., publicly and privately,—at Jerusalem preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. Saul stayed in Jerusalem not more than fifteen days (Gal_1:18).
Act_9:29. Grecians, or Greek-speaking Jews.—These were addressed by Saul probably because he himself was a foreign Jew, or because they may have been present in large numbers in the metropolis attending a feast, but chiefly (might it not be?) because they belonged to the synagogues or synagogue which murdered Stephen (Act_6:9). They went about to kill him—Compare Act_22:17-21, in which the motive for his withdrawing from Jerusalem is represented not as the murderous designs of the Jews, but a vision in the temple. But the two accounts are by no means inconsistent.
Act_9:30. Cæsarea.—See on Act_8:40. Tarsus.—Upon the monuments of Shalmanezer II., about the middle of the ninth century B.C., Tarzi (Schrader). The capital of Cilicia (Act_21:39). Founded, according to tradition, by Sennacherib (705–681 B.C.). After the fall of the Assyrian empire it became, under Persian supremacy, the seat of the Syennesian princes of Cilicia. In Alexander’s time it was the residence of a Persian satrap, and in that of the Diadochi, an important place of the Seleucidæ. Under the old Cæsars Cilicia was conjoined with Syria; but Hadrian restored it to the dignity of an independent province with Tarsus as its chief town. In the time of Saul Tarsus was the seat of one of the most celebrated schools of philosophy and philology. “Strabo, a contemporary of Saul’s, names a whole series of famous teachers out of Tarsus, who all belonged to the first half of the first Christian century, and says: ‘So great zeal for philosophy, and for the circle of all other sciences, have the inhabitants of this town that they have surpassed even Athens and Alexandria, and, indeed, every other place where schools of philosophy and learning exist’ ” (Langhans, Biblische Geschichte und Literatur, ii. 704).
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_9:26-30
Saul’s First Visit to Jerusalem; or, his Discipleship confirmed
I. Saul’s object in visiting Jerusalem (Act_9:26).—
1. To associate himself with the disciples there, and thus obtain recognition of his standing as a member of the Church. The instinct which impels a disciple to seek after the communion of saints is healthy as well as right; that which leads a believer to dissociate himself from other believers, and to cultivate piety apart, is as unsound as it is wrong, and as hurtful to the individual himself as it is contrary to the mind of Christ (Luk_22:32) and the teaching of Christ’s apostles (Col_3:16; Heb_10:25; Jas_5:16; 1Jn_1:7).
2. To make the acquaintance of Peter (Gal_1:18). Though implying a recognition of Peter’s tacitly allowed supremacy in the Church at Jerusalem, this cannot be cited as an acknowledgment of his primacy, since on a second visit fourteen years later (Gal_2:1) Saul (then called Paul) recognises James (the Lord’s brother), Cephas, and John equally with Peter as pillars in the Church (Gal_2:9).
II. Saul’s reception by the disciples at Jerusalem.—
1. His sincerity was suspected. Not by one or two of the more timid of the community, but by all. Not by the ordinary membership, but by its leaders, or at least by Peter and James, since the rest of the apostles appear to have at this time been absent from Jerusalem (Gal_1:19). Nor was their suspicion of him unreasonable. His conversion, of which they had doubtless heard, must have seemed to them beforehand unlikely. Then its miraculous and sudden character must have struck them at least as a reason for caution in accepting it as genuine. And if the larger portion of the three years passed since that occurrence had been spent in retirement in Arabia, their lack of trustworthy information about his manner of life in the interval must be held as having justified their want of forwardness in taking him to their bosoms. “The sudden appearance of Voltaire in a circle of Christians, claiming to be one of them, would have been something like this return of Saul to Jerusalem as a professed disciple” (Hackett).
2. His conversion was attested.
(1) To whom? To the apostles, or rather to Peter and James, the latter of whom Luke includes among the apostles, using the term in a less strict way than that in which it is commonly employed. Either, as above suggested, the other apostles were absent from Jerusalem, or Saul attended no public meeting of the disciples.
(2) By Whom? Barnabas, the Levite of Cyprus, who may have been a former acquaintance of Saul’s—a not unlikely supposition, since Saul’s early occupation as a tent-maker may have brought him into trade relations with the Cyprus farmer, and who apparently had personal knowledge obtained in some way not stated, both of Saul’s conversion and of his evangelistic labours at Damascus.
(3) How? By declaring how Christ had appeared to him in the way to Damascus, and by certifying that he had preached boldly in Christ’s name at Damascus. No one in Jerusalem could have spoken a more powerful word for Saul than the Brother of Consolation, and none could have spoken a better word than that uttered by him.
III. Saul’s evangelistic activity in Jerusalem.—
1. The nature of it.
(1) Preaching boldly—not defiantly or vehemently, but confidently and courageously—in the name of the Lord Jesus; and all who preach in or about Christ’s name should, and might, exhibit the same mental and spiritual characteristics.
(2) Disputing against the Grecian Jews, the party with whom Stephen had argued, and at whose hands he met his death (Act_6:9-12), and who were probably most zealous in opposing him.
2. The continuance of it. Only fifteen days (Gal_1:18), the exercise of his ministry having been—not abandoned for want of success or forsaken through weariness, or love of novelty, but—cut short by the murderous designs of his hearers. Whether these listened to him longer than they did to Stephen cannot be told.
IV. Saul’s precipitate flight from Jerusalem.—
1. Dictated by prudence. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself” (Pro_22:3). No man is required to make a martyr of himself even for religion, unless he cannot avoid doing so without sin.
2. Approved by Christ. This must be inferred from Christ’s own dictum (Mat_10:23). What applied to the Twelve held good of the thirteenth apostle.
3. Assisted by his friends. His brethren in the faith, realising how valuable a coadjutor had been sent them, “took steps” to have him conveyed to Cæsarea (see on Act_8:40 “Critical Remarks”), and sent forth to Tarsus, his native city (see “Critical Remarks”).
4. Rejoiced in by the whole Church of Christ since. What would the Church not have lost had Saul been cut off in the beginning of his glorious career? A heavier blow to Christianity would his fall then have been than his conversion was to Judaism!
Learn.—
1. That sudden and more especially violent conversions are always more or less open to suspicion.
2. That there are times when the services of a Christian brother are invaluable.
3. That the soundest evidence of sincerity in religion is patient and courageous perseverance in well doing.
4. That Christianity can hold the field against all opponents.
5. That Christ’s servants can hardly expect to be better treated than their Master.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_9:8-23. The Progress of Saul’s Conversion.
I. The first impression.—The deep feeling of spiritual inability (Act_9:8).
II. The first signs of life.—“Behold he prayeth” (Act_9:11).
III. The first testimony.—That Christ is the Son of God (Act_9:20).
IV. The first experience.—The cross for the sake of Christ (Act_9:23).—Jasper in Lange.
Act_9:27. What the Name of Jesus is to a Preacher.
I. His theme.
II. His authority.
III. His power.
IV. His aim.
V. His protection.
VI. His reward.
Act_9:29. “They went about to slay him.”—What the Church and the world would have lost had this plot succeeded.
I. The Church would have lost—
1. The brightest example of Christianity.
2. The greatest missionary.
3. The most eloquent preacher. And—
4. The most influential writer that has ever appeared within her borders.
II. The world would have lost—
1. Its foremost pioneer of civilisation.
2. Its noblest philanthropist.
3. Its most gifted teacher.
4. Its most influential personality.
Act_9:20-30. The Marks of True Conversion.
I. Joyful confession of Christ (Act_9:20).
II. Willing endurance of the world’s enmity (Act_9:23).
III. Humble intercourse with believers (Act_9:26).
IV. Godly conduct in the service of the Lord (Act_9:28)—Leonhard and Spiegel in Lange).
Act_9:26-30. The Qualifications, Work, and Reward of a True Minister, as exemplified in the case of Paul.
I. His qualifications.—Declared not by Paul himself, but by Barnabas.
1. A personal interview with Christ. Paul had seen the Lord in the way; and the man who has not had personal dealings in his own soul with Jesus Christ may be an eloquent and even thoughtful lecturer on religion as he understands it, but is not a true minister.
2. A direct message from Christ. Christ had spoken to Paul, and therefore Paul had somewhat to communicate to the world. The true business of the preacher is to communicate not his own but Christ’s thoughts to his fellow-men.
3. A proved fitness to speak for Christ. Paul had shown himself to possess this by his experiment at Damascus; and Christian Churches are specially cautioned against making those bishops, presbyters, or preachers who are not “apt to teach” (1Ti_3:2).
II. His work.—
1. Generally and chiefly to preach, to proclaim the main facts and doctrines of the Gospel of Christ.
2. Particularly and specially to confirm and defend the Gospel against all objectors and objections. In other words, he should be both an evangelist and an apologist.
III. His reward.—Not his ultimate and final, but his present and immediate recompense.
1. The opposition of the world. Here typified by the hostility of the Jews, who first attempted to silence and then to murder Paul.
2. The sympathy of his brethren. If at first regarded with suspicion, the true minister will eventually secure the kindly regards and hearty co-operation first of the Barnabases and then of the Peters, and lastly, of the Johns and Jameses, etc., among the brethren.
3. The protection of God. The Almighty arm will be his shield and buckler till his work is done. No weapon forged against him will prosper. The devices of his enemies will be outwitted and their counsels turned to folly.
Act_9:19-30. Saul Preaching Christ.
I. For this work he had long preparation.—Were the Book of Acts our only source of information, we should conclude that the beginning of Paul’s work as a preacher followed close upon the end of his career as a persecutor. The interval between his persecuting and his preaching would seem to have been only the three days of his blindness at Damascus. We should then be obliged to explain, as best we might, how he so suddenly gained his wonderful insight into Christian truth in its relations to Judaism. We should have to seek, and should seek in vain, a reasonable explanation of the great revolution in his moral sentiments. The work of the Spirit in regeneration may be instantaneous, but the readjustments of character and convictions are always slow and progressive. Happily, we have another resource. In the Epistle to the Galatians Paul wrote: “But when it pleased God to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood … but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.” His preaching was preceded, we may believe, by three years of study and reflection in the solitude of Arabia. St. Paul is not, therefore, to be cited as an instance of a man one day ignorant of Christian truth, and the next day, by means entirely supernatural, the wisest exponent of it. The world, in its love of the wonderful, is too ready to believe in such men. His knowledge of Christ and of Christian truth was in part a revelation, but in part also the result of patient thought and of piety prolonged through studious years. God never works needless miracles. Every view of Christian truth and duty which Paul attained had a long history behind it, stretching back through those years of meditation in Arabia.
II. His conviction that Jesus is the Son of God was reached in the face of the greatest obstacles.—As a Pharisee burning with zeal for the law and its traditions, he looked upon Christ as a dangerous innovator, and upon Christian doctrine as heretical and revolutionary. Salvation by the law-method he advocated with all his heart. That there was any other righteousness than obedience to a ceremonial law he did not for a moment imagine or allow. The sincerity of his intensely religious nature made it the more improbable that his convictions would ever be changed. The sect of the Nazarenes was unnoticed or despised. To him, as to them, the cross was a stumbling-block. No natural bias in favour of Christian truth, then, no motive of self-interest, no social influence, drew him into the number of Christ’s disciples. No greater or more improbable change in character and purpose is conceivable than that by which Saul the inquisitor, hurrying men and women to prison and persecuting to the death believers in the Christian way, became the apostle of the cross, “determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” How, then, were these obstacles removed? His own explanation always was, “Christ was seen by me also.… It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” In this glorious revelation lay the power which revolutionised his moral sentiments, levelled all obstacles, and brought him to an undying faith in the crucified and risen Son of God.
III. The value of Paul’s testimony that Jesus is the son of God is further enhanced by the motive which prompted him to give it.—Human testimony is to be measured by the motive to its utterance. And it might be said that he was an impostor, bearing witness to a lie, and setting up claims which he knew to be false. But, whenever men have reflected that imposture always reacts upon him who tries it, that false claims demoralise him who makes them, and have seen in St. Paul’s life, not a spiritual declension, but a steady progress in holiness, they have been both unable and unwilling to call him an impostor. Besides, the motive to imposture is wanting. Review the list of selfish motives which impel men to make false claims, and not one of them can be applied to him. It was not pride of intellect; for, with supreme self-denial, Paul resolved to count as nothing all other learning than the knowledge of Christ and of His cross. The love of Christ constrained Him. This was the motive. The grateful desire to make some return for Christ’s love to him impelled Paul to labour, to preach, to suffer, “in His name.”
IV. The spiritual power of St. Paul’s life greatly augments the value of his testimony.—Never was there a more powerful life. Or, if we were to admit that St. Paul’s power rested in his natural gifts; if we were to enumerate the elements of a strong character—sobriety, sagacity, impartial judgment, courage, hopefulness, and whatever things enter into a powerful personality—and were to find in these a sufficient cause for his pre-eminence as a religious leader—we might then attach no greater value to his testimony than to that of any other wise and truthful man. But the fact is otherwise. Exalt his natural gifts as we will; say that his own personal powers made him “a greater preacher than Chrysostom, a greater reformer than Luther, a greater theologian than Thomas Aquinas”—it yet remains entirely true that the imperishable power of St. Paul’s life was derived from Christ. He was consciously dependent. “I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.”
V. His testimony is comprehensive.—“In the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that He is the Son of God.” A review of the ministry of St. Paul is fruitful of practical lessons.
1. He has set before us the superiority of the Christian religion to morality.
2. He has shown us that men may exalt the character of Christ.
3. His ministry rebukes all half-hearted service of the Master.—Monday Club Sermons.
Saul Preaching Christ.
I. There is a public confession of Christ, an unofficial preaching of Him, incumbent upon every one who is converted by His grace.—Saul is a noble example of this generous testimony for Christ. “Immediately” (R.V.) “he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues that He is the Son of God.” Notice in reference to this confession—First, it was prompt. “Immediately” he entered upon it. There was no unnecessary hesitation, no dalliance with duty, no waiting upon frames and feelings. Love, gratitude, joy, a desire to retrieve the wrongs of the past, a yearning to direct others to the fountain at which his thirst had been assuaged. Second, it was brave. He did not simply enter his name upon the roll of the disciples. He did not content himself with speaking privately to such of his former acquaintances or associates as he might chance to meet. In the face of friend and foe he made public confession of Jesus his Lord. Third, it was uncompromising. He did not undertake to strike a balance between his own convictions and the prejudices of his hearers, as so many faint-hearted confessors now do. He “proclaimed Jesus that He is the Son of God.”
II. A higher and official preaching of Christ is incumbent upon those, and those only, who are duly called, qualified, and commissioned to enter upon it.—This is the preaching which Saul did after his return from Arabia to Damascus. A study of his course in reference to it throws much light upon the prerequisites to the gospel ministry.
1. It must be preceded by a Divine call. None may enter upon it without such vocation. The call of Saul of Tarsus was in many respects extraordinary.
2. It must be preceded by thorough preparation.
3. It must be preceded by orderly commission. Saul was commissioned of God to preach.
III. The matter, the manner, and the effects of preaching Christ are the same in all ages.—They are strikingly illustrated in the passage which we study to-day.
1. The matter or substance of all gospel preaching is the same. Saul sounds here the key-note of his whole after-ministry.
2. The manner of all true gospel preaching is the same. Saul’s ministry at Damascus and in Jerusalem affords, in these respects, a faithful representation of his methods everywhere, and an instructive example of the manner in which the minister or teacher should hold forth Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. Saul’s preaching was scriptural. He confounded the Jews by proving from the Old-Testament Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Saul’s preaching was fearless. He preached “boldly” both in Damascus and in Jerusalem. He did not shun to declare the whole counsel of God. Saul’s preaching was humble. He “preached in the name of the Lord Jesus.” He assumed no authority and asserted no superiority of his own.
3. The effects of all gospel preaching are the same. The Apostle found in Damascus and at Jerusalem what he did everywhere else: “To the one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other the savour of life unto life.” Finally, the fruits of faithful teaching are gathered after the teacher is gone. Saul has been “brought down to Cæsarea, and sent away to Tarsus,” but the Church of God remains; and this Church, for which he has laboured and prayed, and which sorely misses him now that he has gone, nevertheless “has peace, being edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, is multiplied.”—T. D. Witherspoon, D.D.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v26 26-30. They had no mails nor telegraphs. News was…
PAUL’S APOSTOLICAL RECOGNITION
26-30. They had no mails nor telegraphs. News was slow and uncertain. His name had been the terror of Jerusalem. They fear a strategem, and all stand aloof until Barnabas, his old neighbor (a native of Cyprus, out in the Mediterranean near the Cilician shore), interposes in behalf of his neighbor, schoolmate and brother, Saul of Tarsus. Doubtless Barnabas had attended the Greek schools of Tarsus, in which Saul excelled; hence Barnabas, a preacher and prophet, eminent among the apostles and saints for his personal piety and preaching ability, introduces and vouches for his old friend, Saul; hence they receive and recognize him a bona fide apostle.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv25–27 See notes on verse 23
See notes on verse 23
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v26 gone to Jerusalem
gone to Jerusalem
The Acts records four visits of Paul to Jerusalem after conversion:
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(1) Act 9:23-30. This seems identical with the visit of Gal 1:18; Gal 1:19. The "apostles" of verse Act 9:27 were Peter, and James, the Lord’s brother.
(2) Act 11:30. Paul may have been in Jerusalem during the events of Act 12:1-24; Act 12:25.
(3) Act 15:1-30; Gal 2:2-10.
(4) Act 21:17 to Act 23:35.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v26 Saul at Jerusalem:
Saul at Jerusalem:
v. 26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.
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v. 27. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
v. 28. And he was with them, coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
v. 29. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians. But they went about to slay him,
v. 30. which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
v. 31. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified, and, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.
Three years before, Saul had left Jerusalem. an enemy and persecutor of the disciples of Christ. And now he returned to the city, himself persecuted and hunted by his former friends and companions. Just what feelings surged through his heart as he passed the place where the Lord had appeared to him, or the spot where the stoning of Stephen had taken place, may well be conjectured. But the crowning humiliation came to him in Jerusalem, in the treatment of the disciples. He tried to join himself to the members of the congregation, with the intimacy which was the rule among the disciples in those days. But his efforts were met with suspicion, since his former career was too well known. Very likely they feared that Saul was merely simulating interest and conviction for the sake of being admitted into the secrets of the congregation and of obtaining names of the prominent people connected with it, in order to pursue his old methods once more. In their distrust they felt that they needed the strongest kind of evidence for the sincerity, both of his conversion and of the honesty of his motives in desiring to join them. It may often happen that a sin of earlier days, though performed in partial or total ignorance, may harm a person’s standing in later years, in spite of the most sincere repentance. Fortunately, this distressing experience of Saul did not last too long; for Barnabas, the former Levite, Act 4:36, who may have been acquainted with Paul even from early days in Tarsus, now undertook to vouch for him. He took him to the apostles and narrated to them at length how the conversion of the former persecutor of the Church had taken place when the Lord Himself appeared to him and spoke to him on the way, and also that Saul had spoken the great truths of the Gospel boldly at Damascus. In the name of Jesus he had spoken so freely, and had thus received the same commission as had the apostles themselves. This introduction took place to Peter and James, Gal 1:19, the other apostles being absent from Jerusalem on matters pertaining to the Church. Barnabas having vouched for Saul, the latter was now recognized as a brother, and he went in and out among the congregation in Jerusalem; he had confidential intercourse with the apostles and with all the brethren daily. And very naturally Saul, also in Jerusalem, began to preach freely in the name of the Lord. The message of salvation whose glory and comfort he had experienced he felt constrained to bring to others, Act 4:20. But when he also spoke and disputed with the Hellenists, to whom he himself had belonged, perhaps in the same synagogue that had attempted to argue against the wisdom of Stephen, Act 6:9, he found that they were deeply embittered against him as a deserter from their ranks. With this feeling prompting them, they undertook to kill him; they did not actually apply their hands to it, but they began to make arrangements to that effect. It was true, therefore, that the Hellenistic Jews would not accept Saul’s testimony concerning Jesus, Act 22:17. The brethren found out about the intention of removing the brother whom they now highly esteemed, and foiled the evil purpose. They took Saul down to Caesarea on the Mediterranean, whence he had an opportunity to cross over to Asia Minor, to Tarsus in Cilicia, his home town. It seems to have been the opinion of the brethren that it would be best for Saul to wait in his own city until such a time as the Lord would assign some definite work to him. Here we leave Saul for a while. Luke, in closing this section, appends the remark that all the congregations, the entire Church, since their fiercest, most zealous enemy had been vanquished, had rest, peace, and prosperity, had a fine opportunity of being established, internally and externally, throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. The Church was edified, built up as a solid structure; its right to exist was fully vindicated; its members walked, conducted their entire lives, by or through the fear of the Lord, as a result of the faith which lived in their hearts; and they were filled with the comfort of the Holy Ghost, the promised help and sustenance of Jesus became a fact, and the result was seen also in the growing number of the disciples. It is the Lord that builds His Church, as well in the days of strife and oppression as in the days of peace and prosperity, and it is the comfort of His Spirit which makes true church-work possible, causing also the appearance of true, piety in the life of the congregations.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v26 General Information:
General Information:
Here the words "he" and "him" refer to Saul all but one time. "And 'he' told them how" in verse 27 refers to Barnabas.
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but they were all afraid of him
Here "they were all" is a generalization, but it is possible that it refers to every person. AT: "but they were afraid of him" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus
This is a way of saying he preached or taught the gospel message of Jesus Christ without fear. AT: "had openly preached the message about Jesus" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Jerusalem
disciple
Barnabas
apostle
Paul
lord
Damascus
preach
Jesus
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v26 9:26-28 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, the Christian community…
9:26-28 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, the Christian community understandably did not immediately trust him, given his recent history of violently persecuting Christians (8:3; 9:1, 13; 22:3, 4; 26:9-11). Fortunately, Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement” (4:36), introduced the changed man to the apostles and explained his encounter with the Lord at Damascus, his sense of calling, and his subsequent boldness in preaching in the name of Jesus in Damascus. Barnabas was able to convince the apostles that Saul’s conversion was genuine, so Saul remained with the apostles in Jerusalem, where he preached boldly for his Lord. Paul recalls this visit in Gal 1:18-19.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.